Photo: Talarforum.com press image Date and time: January 19th at 14:00 Speaker: Simon Kyaga, senior consultant psychiatrist and former researcher at the Karolinska Institute Title: to be confirmed shortly Venue:Ragnar Granit, Level 3 (entrance level), Biomedicum, Solna väg 9 About the speaker Together with his mother, Katrin Goldstein Kyaga – researcher and professor of intercultural education …
Year: 2025
Huvudområde
The Global Flourishing Study: What Contributes to a Life Well-Lived?
The recently published Global Flourishing Study (GFS) is a collaboration among researchers at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard, Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion and Gallup to address limitations in current research on human flourishing. The study investigates what contributes to a life well-lived — a topic that …
Music training can help the brain focus
Musical people find it easier to focus their attention on the right sounds in noisy environments. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Science Advances. The results suggest that music training can be used to sharpen attention and cognition. Being able to focus on …
Creative experiences and brain clocks
Creative activities may improve brain health, but the exact ways they do so are not yet fully understood. To explore this, this new study measured brain health using “brain clocks,” which estimate how quickly or slowly a person’s brain is aging compared to their actual age. M/EEG brain connectivity data from …
What happens in the brain when we experience art by Kirsten Weir
In her article, Kirsten Weir highlights research showing that people engage with the arts in many different ways, and that these encounters can sometimes be deeply transformative. When individuals connect with art that feels personally meaningful, the brain’s default mode network—linked to self-reflection and introspection—is activated. Such aesthetic experiences have …
In Focus: Empathy and Education
Classroom Lessons Found to Boost Empathy in a recent study A study backed by the University of Cambridge suggests that just one term of empathy-focused lessons in schools could lead to improvements in student behaviour. Around 900 students, aged five to 18, across six different countries took part in a video-based …
Music and Mind – a new book by Renée Flemming
World-renowned soprano and advocate for the arts in healthcare, Renée Fleming, brings together a series of essays by prominent scientists, artists, creative arts therapists, educators, and healthcare professionals, exploring the profound effects of music and the arts on health and the human experience. Music and Mind Renee Flemming on Bokus.com
Fredrik Ullén awarded the Mensa Foundation Prize
KI researcher Fredrik Ullén has been awarded the fifth Mensa Foundation Prize for his pioneering work in neuroscience, with a particular focus on the neuropsychology of expertise and creativity, i.e. the mechanisms in the brain that allow us to perform at a high level in a particular field after many …
Which factors influence whether audiences enjoy a contemporary dance performance? A new study from Julia F. Christensen, Emily Cross and Fredrik Ullén
Contemporary dance, unlike ballet, is not always immediately accessible or easily interpreted by the general public. So, what determines whether audiences enjoy a contemporary dance performance? To explore this question, an interdisciplinary research team from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, conducted a …
Video recording from the Brain and Culture Lecture 19th May with Elvira Brattico
If you were unable to attend the Zoom lecture on May 19th “Music, Beauty, and the Brain – From Sound Parameters to Cultural Influence” with Elvira Brattico, Aarhus University, Denmark there is now a video available Humans are naturally drawn to beauty in their surroundings, including in the auditory domain. For …
How do we respond to music? A new study in Nature Communications
People enjoy music for many reasons—like to relax, feel emotions, or connect with others. But not everyone enjoys music the same way, and scientists don’t fully understand why. In this study, researchers looked at how much genetics (our inherited traits) influence how people respond to music. They used data from over …
Reyna Gordon: musical rhythm and language skills are connected not just by behavior, but by shared brain structures and genetics
A recent study shows that musical rhythm and language skills are connected not just by behavior, but by shared brain structures and genetics. This gives new clues about how music and language may have evolved together in humans. The study looked at whether there’s a biological connection between people’s abilities in …
Food for thought: the realm of creativity through the art of “Poem-Making” every Thursday at 19.00 online
When: Every Thursday at 10:00 AM Pacific (19.00 CET) Location: Online (see link below) Offered by Redwing Keyssar, RN, Author, Director of Patient and Caregiver Education at The MERI Center for Education in Palliative Care, UCSF/Mt Zion. In this one-hour “Poetry Café”, co-sponsored by the MERI Center for Education in Palliative Care and …
Why do you dance, and what? participants wanted for a survey
Scientific evidence suggests: Dancing is healthy! However, there is a lot that we don’t know yet. For instance, how much dancing is healthy? Are there types of dancing that are healthier than others? And, under which circumstances is dancing particularly healthy, and for whom? Would you help us find answers to these …
Creativity in a health crisis: What does the research tell us?
Watch this conversation from the chairman of the Culture, Health and Well Being Alliance (CHWA) Rosie Dow, Prof Helen Chatterjee and Dr Karen Mak (UCL). Rosie Dow is a freelance consultant supporting people with strategy, leadership and data, specialising in arts and health alongside her role as a Director of CHWA. …
Video recording from The Pathway to Flow with Julia F Christensen January 18th 2025
Scientists have long known the mental and creative benefits of the flow state, in which total absorption in an activity banishes anxiety. But what causes it, and how can we achieve it? Studies suggest that entering the flow state can enhance our performance in activities such as sports or music, and …
Beauty and the brain – Investigating the neural and musical attributes of beauty during naturalistic music listening
This study explored the neural basis of musical beauty using behavioral and neuroimaging methods. In Study 1, 30 adults rated the beauty of musical passages, identifying "beautiful" and "not-beautiful" segments. Study 2 used fMRI on 36 adults to examine brain activity while listening to the same pieces. Beautiful passages activated …
Open positions at Emotion Lab / Turku PET Centre
Human Emotion Systems Laboratory at Turku PET Centre, Finland is looking for new personnel for our flagship project on imaging the whole-body emotion circuits, led by Prof. Lauri Nummenmaa and funded by the European Research Council. In the project we use newly developed state-of-the-art methods in total-body positron emission tomography and signal …
The Public Health Agency of Sweden: The Importance of Culture for Health and Well-being – A Summary of a Mapping Literature Review
In this publication, we summarize the results of a mapping literature review that examines research on the importance of culture for health and well-being. It includes findings from over 300 studies worldwide, exploring various aspects, from creating conditions for health and well-being at the societal level to the care and …
Can analysis of Beethoven’s DNA reveal his genetic ‘musical’ predisposition?
How much of exceptional human achievement can be attributed to genetics? This longstanding question, originating in the early days of genetic research, seems more approachable today thanks to advanced molecular techniques that allow for the analysis of DNA from historical figures. But how reliable are the conclusions drawn from such …